Netflix May Up U.S. Pricing, Ready for Disney Plus Battle

Netflix has played down the threat of Disney's rival streaming platform, Disney Plus. The so called "Netflix-killer" from Disney is set to allow the mega studio, who recently absorbed Fox into their stables, to fully capitalize their enormous library of content and licensed franchises, including Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told the BBC that Netflix are no strangers to competition, and that more competition from the likes of Disney will only make Netflix better.

"We've been competing with Amazon for more than 10 years, so we're used to healthy, strong competition," said Hastings. "It makes us better."

Despite the optimism, Hastings was not not at all complacent about the challenges Netflix will be facing.

"They've got so much content [like] Star Wars and Marvel, they'll be a great competitor," he said.

"And that will push us to do the best work of our lives."

In a separate interview with Bloomberg, Hastings also hinted at the possibility of a cheaper pricing tier for the Asian market, to drop the minimum cost below the current $7.99.

Analyst firm Piper Jaffray, citing a survey of existing Netflix subscribers, says that there is still room for price increases in the crucial U.S. market, with surveyed subscribers happy to put up with a 40% price increase. The survey shows subscribers were generally happy with the current content offerings by Netflix.